Across from the Delaware & Hudson railroad station in my home town, Creasy's had a promenade-style porch and a 1950's screen door. The glass display counter was long to a kid and, better yet, it featured penny candy. I mean all kinds of penny candy: black licorice cigars, multi-colored jelly dots, Mary Jane's, candy buttons, wax "soda bottles" filled with sweet syrup, candy cigarettes, and many more. My favorite was malted milk balls. It was always hard to choose five pieces and we kids would linger over the glass like boys picking out favorite marbles.
Whenever we had a nickel we'd head up the street for a little brown paper bag of candy. I will always remember the creak of the screen door at Creasy's. Once inside you couldn't miss a certain smell. One would hardly find an oiled wooden floor a pleasant odor, but to us kids it was candy heaven. Just inside the door to the right was the gum ball machine. I'd exchange my nickel for five pennies and try for the lucky striped gum or the speckled one. The speckled one got you one extra free piece of candy, but a striped one would net you five pieces. For me, five malted milk balls! I can't say I recall another thing in Creasy's store though I'm sure it was every bit a grocery store.
Today I'd love to walk up D & H Avenue, watch the train station come into sight, and find Creasy's store just across the tracks. To, once again, walk the wooden promenade, hear the creak of the door and turn to the right to try for five malted milk balls. But the promenade porch, the oiled floor boards and the creaky screen door have been replaced. A sign outside reads: "The Muffin Man." Though they remain alive in my dreams, the years have left those candy store memories as mere mantel dust.
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